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Children in Church

Submitted by RaoulTGIF on Sat, 04/22/2017 - 07:45

April 21, 2017Smart
Kid

Last Wednesday I had
a Chamber meeting and there I met Fernando  a senior in High School
and learning the ropes about business networking. He was very well mannered,
wore a coat that did not match the color of his suit jacket. I thought
he was just another kid who was there because his teachers forced him
to mingle with the grown ups. But it was when he introduced himself that
my heart began to melt.

It turns out he's
a smart kid with a 4.5 average whose interest is in math, science and
tech. After all his hard work in High School, he didn't think he could
afford to go to college. But he said his teacher accompanied him to send
out his applications to the different colleges. When asked for the payment,
his teacher gave her credit card to pay for it all. I found out later
from other sources that this teacher said Fernando was in the top 1 percent
of all the students she had taught in the last 25 years. I was blessed
by that teacher  student bond.

Eventually, Fernando was accepted in different universities but he narrowed
his choice to two  either USC (University of Southern California
which is a few miles away) or Brown (which is at the other end of the
North American coastline). I shared with him what my son did. Out of all
my son's choice of colleges, he chose Brown. It was a difficult transition
for all of us. When he moved away it was like someone had died. My wife,
my daughters... we all cried for weeks. I'm sure he did too. But today
he is quite a success story. He matured faster than (I believe) his other
classmates who remained driving distance away from their parents. I told
Fernando that if he wants to mature fast, that he should go to Brown.

The road less traveled
is like the lesson few want to learn. Correct me if I'm wrong but Americans
give more to charity than any other nation. Here in America especially
here in Southern California where I live, non-profit organizations abound
so much so that they overlap their missions. There is no regulating body
that corrals these well-meaning humanitarians. In my neck of the woods
there's always someone selling tickets to raise funds for the high school,
cancer research, environmental protection, the sports clubs, the homeless,
the addicts, the police and fire departments, the veterans, the seniors,
the mentally challenged, the overweight, the underweight, Planned Parenthood,
Teen Pregnancy, Public radio and TV... the list goes on. Few people ever
challenge their effectiveness nor what the percentage of the donations
actually go to the people they serve. Many, like the fake Hollywood crowd,
are only interested in their public persona. I've talked to some experts
who say doling out money to the homeless only exacerbates the problem.
The proverb of "Teaching a man to fish" is only effective if
the man knows he can't get fish any other way. If you live in America,
there's free food if you really want to look for it. We really have it
easy.

But easy comes at
a price. Easy makes us soft. Easy makes us dependent.

Fernando, I know you
are reading this. You're young. You've got the enviable smarts. Don't
sell yourself short. Shoot for the stars. And when you're up there in
the constellation of success, don't forget your humble beginnings and
support the organizations that really matter. And don't forget that God
was on your side. I'm praying for you.

TGIF people!

Children in ChurchContributed by
Tom of Pasadena, CA

A Sunday school teacher
asked her class, "What was Jesus' mother's name?" One
child answered, "Mary."

The teacher then asked,
"Who knows what Jesus' father's name was?" A little kid
said, "Verge."

Confused, the teacher
asked, "Where did you get that?"

The kid said, "Well,
you know, they are always talking about Verge n' Mary.'

3-year-old Reese:

"Our Father,
Who does art in heaven, Harold is His name. Amen."

A little boy was overheard
praying: "Lord, if you can't make me a better boy, don't worry
about it. I'm having a real good time like I am."

After the christening
of his baby brother in church, Jason sobbed all the way home in the back
seat of the car. His father asked him three times what was wrong. Finally,
the boy replied, "That preacher said he wanted us brought up in
a Christian home, and I wanted to stay with you."

I had been teaching
my three-year old daughter, Caitlin, the Lord's Prayer for several evenings
at bedtime. She would repeat after me the lines from the prayer. Finally,
she decided to go solo. I listened with pride as she carefully enunciated
each word, right up to the end of the prayer: "Lead us not into
temptation," she prayed, "but deliver us from E-mail."

One particular four-year-old
prayed, "And forgive us our trash baskets as we forgive those
who put trash in our baskets."

A Sunday school teacher
asked her children as they were on the way to church service, "And
why is it necessary to be quiet in church?" One bright little
girl replied, "Because people are sleeping."

Six-year-old Angie
and her four-year-old brother, Joel, were sitting together in church.
Joel giggled, sang, and talked out loud. Finally, his big sister had had
enough.

"You're not
supposed to talk out loud in church."

"Why? Who's
going to stop me?" Joel asked.

Angie pointed to the
back of the church and said, "See those two men standing by the
door?

They're hushers."

A mother was preparing
pancakes for her sons, Kevin 5, and Ryan 3. The boys began to argue over
who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for
a moral lesson. "If Jesus were sitting here, He would say, 'Let
my brother have the first pancake, I can wait.'

Kevin turned to his
younger brother and said, "Ryan, you be Jesus!"

A father was at the
beach with his children when the four-year-old son ran up to him, grabbed
his hand, and led him to the shore where a seagull lay dead in the sand.

"Daddy, what
happened to him?" the son asked.

"He died and
went to Heaven," the Dad replied.

The boy thought a
moment and then said, "Did God throw him back down?"

A wife invited some
people to dinner. At the table, she turned to their six-year-old daughter
and said, "Would you like to say the blessing?"

"I wouldn't
know what to say," the girl replied.

"Just say
what you hear Mommy say," the wife answered.

The daughter bowed
her head and said, "Lord, why on earth did I invite all these
people to dinner?"